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Abaddon (Ryan J. Gaven)
“The average human body has about 5 liters of blood and losing 3 or 4 of them is bad. Exsanguinations of this kind lead to lack of oxygen and nutrients in the brain and other vital organs. Pretty much, the body starts to shut down slowly until the curtain drops and you’re very much dead. But um…not for me. And once that guy over there gets a little closer, he’s going to find out why.” – Ryan Gaven. __TOC__ 'History' Early Life This section covers a hypothetical 1st year of publication or so The man that was to become known as Abaddon was born Ryan Jeremiah Gaven, illegitimate son of Michael Rivven (better known publicly as the hero Archangel) and Alice Richards. His maternal grandfather is the notorious serial killer and criminal mastermind, Russell Richards. Shortly after turning Russell into the authorities, Alice went into hiding and gave birth to her son, concealing his existence from Michael and changing her and Ryan's last name to 'Gaven'. Ryan was brought up in a single-parent household, never knowing his father, in Miami, Florida. Ryan was diagnosed with Erlington's Syndrome from infancy, a rare congenital heart malformation that makes the heart muscle weaken under stress. His metagene was first activated when he was eight, after a dog attacked and bit him, causing his arm to bleed profusely. The blood reacted to his terror at the large dog, solidifying into barbed wire and driving the dog off. Unbeknownst to Ryan, this ability had an uncanny appearance to Russell's; his mother became unsettled, and she bade him to never show his power to anyone, worried he would suffer repercussions for what Russell did. At the age of ten, Ryan lost his mother in a car accident, after which he was placed into the hands of social services. This led him to finally meet his father for the first time. Michael was allowed a private talk with the boy and Ryan accidentally realized that his father was his long-time idol, the Archangel. As a younger child, Ryan had witnessed Archangel's battle to stop metahuman Elijah Dalloway and saw his hero's hand being pierced through by a metal shard, resulting in a distinctive scar. The boy had also memorized Archangel's real voice and could identify it no matter how much Michael disguised it—a sign of Ryan’s later skill at ‘reading’ people. Despite the revelation of his father’s identity and the adoration Ryan showed, Michael rejected responsibility over him, seemingly unsettled by his relation to Richards and troubled by his own problematic marriage. Ryan was sent into foster care, seemingly out of dislike but, as Michael later admitted, also an effort to keep the boy out of his world of crime-fighting and constant danger. Ultimately, Michael’s despotic and traditionalist mother, Mathilda, was behind this decision, threatening to oust Michael’s secret identity and expose his family to the underworld unless he removed ‘the bastard’ from their lives and the Rivven family. This fact would not come to light until shortly before Mathilda’s death of natural causes, nearly fifteen years later. Rejected by both father and idol, Ryan was left to fend for himself while being moved between families through social services. He endured physical and emotional abuse in these families, unsuited and unprepared as they were to deal with a child such as him, and could never properly fit in. Among his worst experiences was realizing one of his foster siblings (Andy Rogermaster) was a psychopath with violent homicidal tendencies that finally materialized in an attempt to murder the father of the family. He soon became withdrawn and silent, feeling the need to protect his secrets, he was frequently bullied, even ostracized due to his heart problem. He had very few friends, a bad temper, had a penchant for getting into trouble, was nearly sent to reform school once, and frequently turned to music to alleviate his frustrations. Part of his early adolescence, from the age of 15 and on, involved underground illegal fighting (what would later become known as the ‘8-Ring’) that engaged teenagers and being caught in a gang shootout by sheer bad luck. His early involvement with the underworld of Miami would become a valuable resource of information later in his career. Brothers Things for Ryan changed one year before he turned 18, when he was legally allowed to leave his oppressive, last foster family and live his own life. After his high school graduation, he had secured a scholarship in a Miami college and besides a slew of part-time jobs, had a small trust-fund left by his mother to start his independent life. Gabriel Rivven, his half brother from Michael's marriage to Jennifer Wilson, sought him out against their father's wishes and expectations; Michael still seemed unwilling to stomach the existence of his eldest, illegitimate son. The two siblings, after a rocky start, were at ease with each other and pooled resources to live in a shared apartment while they both studied in college—Ryan in Forensic Psychology and Criminal Behavior (later he added courses on Criminology and Forensics as well) and Gabe in Web Design & Interfaces and Advanced Programming. Ryan’s experience with a psychopathic foster sibling prompted his interest in psychology and in particular he immersed himself in the research of psychopathic tendencies in juveniles and children. Later still, he also studied the effects of the metagene and metahuman powers in human psychology and would go on to become a leading researcher in the field of mental instabilities brought on by the metahuman genes. Things looked well for the pair, despite Gabriel's estrangement from their father, which Ryan disapproved of. They often talked about their future and what they should do with their powers, but Ryan was adamant he didn't want to become involved with what he called “the hero business” because of their father. He felt that, as he was, he would never be left at peace and would constantly be compared to his grandfather, which would inevitably become a hindrance. Eventually their routine came to an end when a wave of unprecedented crime struck Miami, culminating in a mob of unidentified, monstrous-looking creatures running rampant through the city. With panic spreading in the city and armed forces finding it difficult to control the bizarre creatures, Gabe finally convinced Ryan that they had to do something. Ryan caved and the two hurriedly put together makeshift 'costumes' out of some of their clothes and set out to help the police and SWAT with the creatures. Although they nearly got killed due to inexperience, they were successful in curbing the attacking creatures and identifying their origin: an illegal genetic research lab that was developing B.O.Ws, Bio Organic Weapons. This lab would later turn out to have been run by Dr. Dio, an adversary that would frequently cause them problems. They were caught by the media during their battle and given 'nicknames' by an over-excited reporter named Andrew Coltrane, as Abaddon and Uriel. Although neither of the siblings was particularly happy about the first impression they'd made and the nicknames they earned, they kept it to themselves out of embarrassment, and Ryan would later be quoted saying that Coltrane was ‘a religious nut’. In the wake of the incident, they received a visit from Archangel—the first time Ryan saw his father since he was abandoned to social services, nearly nine years previously. Gabe attempted to make a conversation between them possible, but Michael was only interested in insulting Ryan and blaming Gabe's near death on him and his 'influence'. Ryan took the matter seemingly calmly, used to constant belittling, but Gabe had enough and punched his father in the face before forcing him out of their apartment. Ryan was not happy with the matter and went after Michael; he apologized for Gabe's behavior because he couldn't bear to see Gabe suffer the same disconnection from his family that he himself had. Ryan and Michael came to a grudging truce and agreed to keep out of each other's hair and let Gabe make his own choices. The Start of Nightwatch Following the B.O.W incident, Ryan thought it would be better for him to never appear publicly again, as rumor began to spread in the media that the hero identified as Abaddon was related to Russell Richards, or even Richards himself, due to the similarity of their powers. But one evening, while returning home after work he stumbled onto the scene of an accident: A fire consuming a building and firefighters struggling to put it out and evacuate unfortunate residents. He tried to walk away and leave it to the firefighters, but his consciousness got the best of him and he used blood armor to form a helmet and jumped in to help, rescuing three trapped residents from the flames and two firefighters—including the squad's captain. The police, who were searching for him to question him in relation to Russell Richards, arrived on the scene as Abaddon collapsed from smoke inhalation. The firefighters concealed him under firefighter clothing while putting him on oxygen and told the police he had fled the scene. The captain of the firefighters thanked him for saving his men and the incident taught him that there was still a possibility of acceptance for him; maybe not from authorities like the police, but from the citizens themselves. Eventually he and Gabe began to train and modify their 'costumes'; they began patrolling Miami as regular crime fighters, adopting the names that the press first gave them, much to Michael's chagrin. The reason was, the people were already calling them with those names and neither had any better ideas. On one of their patrols, Abaddon ran into Ashley Caradyne—when she fell on him after being thrown off the edge of a sky-scraper in downtown Miami. Uriel and Abaddon helped her rescue her father, the retired metahuman burglar Smoke, from a terrorist ring and Abaddon began feeling an attraction to the feisty metahuman girl, even though she blatantly blew him off. Ironically, the following week she approached them while they were stopping a bank robbery gone wrong and introduced herself as Feral, practically inviting herself in their 'team'. Without much of an argument against it, they reluctantly let her join them and agreed to the name she suggested for their team: The Nightwatch. Before long, word of their existence got out and they were joined by Demosthene Savoy—Samedi's Envoy, who had taken on the mantle of being an avatar of the Voodoo god as long as he could use it to protect people from more than just misused Voodoo. Following a worsening of Ryan's heart condition they were approached by Dr. Evan Kelly, a doctor and metahuman owning a clinic in Miami, who happened to be a friend of the Rivven family. He offered to help them with Ryan's medical problem and allowed them to use the clinic as a base, offering them support and advice as a senior and doctor. Under his care, Abaddon got better and they 'recruited' another member, The Weatherman. Things Get Serious By the first year of their existence as a team, they had also recruited Troll, Razorspark, Belladonna and Glitch, after rescuing him from the FBI. Ryan's relationship with Michael was still rocky and they refused to acknowledge each other as father and son. From the start, Abaddon was considered the de facto leader of Nightwatch and even though he wasn't the oldest, he was looked up to by his teammates. He faced a crisis of identity and choices when Russell Richards, his grandfather, managed to escape the high security prison in which he was kept, in Alaska. Russell had maintained control over his old group, The Syndicate, now counting new 'students' in its ranks, including foes like Tauro, Cottonmouth and Drama Queen, as well as older enemies of Nightwatch, like Rosencrantz and his brother Guildenstern. With Russell back on the loose, killing and dominating his way up the criminal food-chain and playing mind games with the authorities and other heroes trying to stop him, Abaddon found himself under extreme pressure. Russell worsened things by luring Abaddon into a trap in order to 'introduce' himself to his grandson; it ended with Abaddon and his associates barely escaping with their lives but badly shaken by the encounter. His relation to Russell and the resemblance of their powers inevitably shook his confidence and made him consider quitting. Enter XSTNC Before he could come to any decision, he was targeted by an alien mental parasite, known only as XSTNC. The parasite kidnapped him using mind control then proceeded to start torturing him mentally and physically to wear him down in order to invade his mind and replace him, using his body as a host. After realizing his disappearance, the Nightwatch team began a frantic search for their missing leader. Meanwhile, Abaddon endured prolonged torture culminating in the alien beginning to invade his mind and starting to dismantle his consciousness. He was pitted against both the alien and his own personal demons in an intense mental battle for dominance and survival that he was rapidly losing. Finally Archangel intervened, helping Uriel locate Abaddon's holding place and they arrived the moment Abaddon and the alien's inner battle was peaking; the alien had invaded Ryan's subconscious to attempt to uproot him entirely from his body, when it encountered The Beast, the deepest and most primal aspect of Abaddon's subconscious. The Beast proceeded to crush the alien right as Uriel decapitated it's body. Mentally and physically broken once again, Abaddon was taken to Dr. Kelly's clinic where he underwent a delicate 'soul surgery' that Dr. Kelly did in order to remove every influence of the alien in Ryan's head and try to save him from permanent trauma. Abaddon was comatose for approximately three weeks, during which Uriel had to step in and become Nightwatch's leader. Upon his awakening Ryan became aware of the drastic changes the experience had brought to him, including his red eyes, altered powers (the traumatic experience had triggered some changes in their 'behavior’) and the crippled sense of pain. The whole incident, the pressure from Russell's activities and the fact that Archangel had saved him, caused Abaddon to realize he needed some kind of sabbatical, badly. He resigned from leader of Nightwatch, passing the duty over to Uriel, permanently, and began a period of soul searching and trying to improve his skills. At this point, Abaddon was found by Gold Mask, an ancient master who lead the Dante Society, a group of human and metahuman demon hunters, and offered to train him on the condition that he worked with the Dante Society when needed. To ensure his friend's well-being, Samedi's Envoy petitioned for and was granted a membership in the team as well, in order to watch Abaddon's back. Abaddon agreed and began a rigorous training regime under Gold Mask, who encouraged his aggressive combat style and helped him refine it. 'Personality' 'A Charismatic Bastard' Even for his close friends and associates find it diffcult to completely decipher Ryan. His turbulent life has left him with many emotional scars and a pronounced difficulty in dealing with people. Ryan goes to certain lengths to keep his Abaddon persona out of his life, as well as avoiding any association with his grandfather or father—though ironically it is often remarked that he behaves like his father's early years, which frustrates him. He finds it impossible to cover certain aspects of his personality, like his bad temper or his fondness for challenges, which show in either of his identities. He doesn’t define either identity as the ‘real’ Ryan; he says such a thing can’t be done since he “isn’t totally sane”. He is well aware of the history of mental issues present in his mother’s side of the family, specifically schizophrenia and/or psychosis. He often worries he may have inherited such a problem. People around him consider him 'pretty normal' in respect to how he lives and interacts with others. Ryan was a reserved and even shy child, but the rejection from his father and his subsequent life turned him into a grumpy and sarcastic jerk, traits that often overshadow his better qualities. His friends remark that once he gets out of his shell he is well worth knowing and trusting, even though Ryan himself doesn't always trust others entirely, which is one of his weaknesses. They bear with his bad attitude only because they know that he usually has good reasons for his occasionally outrageous behavior and because he never lets them down. In the company of allies, Ryan is considered witty, clever and dependable—if a bit grumpy and aloof—appreciated for his sense of humor and a relaxed kind of personality that outs others at ease. He might have a short temper but it doesn't stop him from being mature and insightful. Interestingly, Ryan tries a bit too hard to hide the fact that he's intellectual, emotional and actually likes helping others. He doesn't know why he behaves like that (a fact he has confessed to) and is very reserved in his displays of kindness and altruism. He never expects to be thanked for the things he does and isn't very fond of publicity, positive or negative; he doesn't seem to care about it. It would seem that his rough life has left him with a habit of concealing his real capabilities, feelings or personality, which show only when his self-imposed facade breaks. For example, though he is a surprisingly skilled combatant, he will usually under-perform in training or even less-than-grave conditions, partly because he can't be bothered to try enough. Ryan is fascinated by challenges--physical and mental--to the point where he can drop a case for favor of a more 'interesting' one. This often makes him clash with the rest of the team and results in him often working alone. He is especially attracted to cases involving complex psychological motives or elements and unusual occurrences. He becomes obsessed with opponents he cannot easily profile and is especially interested in possible psychopathic individuals. He seems to love outwitting and outmaneuvering them--a feat he does often, and sometimes to his own mental detriment. He's notoriously foul-mouthed, even at inappropriate times; a product of his upbringing and his attitude. Usually he doesn't mean half of the swearing and insults he spouts—but Dr. Kelly, among others, has noted that most of what he says can be brushed off because he holds back. Dr. Kelly has also noted that the only times Ryan has been really and honestly mean or cruel with words is when he is under a lot of pain or stress which distract him. Ryan deals with his heart condition rather well, even joking about it. He often calls it "Spontaneous Cardioimplosion" instead of its proper name. He has admitted that he's come to terms with it and the fact he could be dead before he even turns thirty and is determined to make the most of his life. In some sense, Ryan considers his heart problem an advantage rather than a hindrance: He claims it keeps him grounded and always aware of his mortality, making it easier for him to accept death as a fact of life, without descending into suicidal tendencies. He credits his ability to fight while disregarding his own well-being to this acceptance. Another of his obvious flaws is his strained relationship with his father and his sarcastic opinion about family. He does not meet eye to eye with his biological father, still being very bitter about being rejected and mistreated. He feels anger not because of his father's behavior but because he can't bring himself to honestly hate him. Ryan knew about his grandfather since childhood and it is openly accepted that Russell is one of the few people who actually scare him, although ironically Ryan is able to match up with his genius grandfather where mental games are involved. Where his past foster families are involved, Ryan’s attitude ranges from indifferent to deeply sarcastic. He claims to have no really pleasant memory of his life in foster care but refuses to get into details. He has alluded to abuse within at least one of those families but refuses to talk about the exact nature. As Abaddon, he is a very ruthless and unforgiving crime-hunter, who uses his powers and skills to terrorize criminals and fight them on their own terms. He shows little mercy, barely refraining from killing, although he has proven that it isn't beyond him should he be pushed there by circumstance. His short temper and low tolerance for heinous crimes (such as child abuse and body-trafficking) has made him kill several criminals rather brutally, but as of recent he has began curbing these impulses, but has not completely expelled them. He still leaves many resisters badly broken, crippled or maimed in sometimes horrific ways. His wit, sharp tongue and penchant for caustic sarcasm and scathing remarks are something of a trademark of his and he displays very little respect towards other superheroes, even those he inwardly admires and respects, like Batman. Although he is distant from and somewhat jaded of organized religion, conversations with Dr. Kelly and others seem to imply that he was raised (and still is) a Catholic. Relationships Ryan has a long-standing problem with forming bonds and his relationships with other people can be awkward at best. His closest relationship is with his brother, Gabriel. The two siblings don't seem to mind the fact they're only half brothers. They clash and argue a lot and often but their bond remains a strong one. Ryan holds his relationship to Gabe as the most important in his life, with Gabe often acting as his anchor to his ideals when his temper leads him astray. In turn, he ensures that Gabe doesn't always act on impulse and get himself in trouble. Ryan is extremely protective of Gabe, to the point of turning unnecessarily violent. He gets along well with his other associates in Nightwatch. He may not fully be able to trust them but he deeply appreciates their presence in his life even if he can't find ways to show that. He has often argued with everyone and even come to blows with some, but these fights usually become meaningless the next day. One does not mess with Ryan's team and expect to avoid being mangled. Glitch in particular is especially fond of Ryan and refers to him as his 'bro'. Being naive, innocent and inexperienced, the little alien often requires Ryan's immediate protection in danger and Ryan admits he's fond of the little tyke. It was Glitch who was present when he woke up from his coma and Ryan was glad to see him, remarking that Glitch was holding it together well, just to have the child break down into tears on his lap. In the team, one of his more prevalent friendships is with Razorspark; both owe each other their lives and more than once Razorspark has saved him from a heart failure by shocking him. Ryan's actions inducted him in Nightwatch to redeem himself. As two of the eldest members of the team, along with Troll, they deeply respect each other and often exchange quite adult conversation and jokes, and Troll even went to them for dating advice. He has a strange relationship with the police and authorities in general; Abaddon respects policemen and the work they do, but at the same time is exasperated with them and their attitude towards him. He prefers to ignore the police, if he can help it. His only contact (and possibly friend) in the Miami-Dade PD is Lieutenant Nathan Scott, a dedicated officer and one of the most prominent Homicide Detectives in the force, with connections and friends within many divisions. He is considered a highly respectable police officer despite his relatively young age and Abaddon trusts him enough because of his sincerity, dignity and dedication to his job. Abaddon's relationship with other heroes is rocky. He does not respect most established heroes and usually responds to them with sarcasm. While he does respect some, he doesn't show it easily, nor does it stop him from telling them exactly what he thinks. His attitude makes it difficult for him to work within a team that he doesn't know or trust and he rarely obeys others, usually responding with something akin to "kiss my ass" or the more blatant "fuck off". He also frequently does things his way rather than as asked and might seem like a loose cannon. The same attitude applies to his relationship with his biological father; they mutually avoid each other and usually, Abaddon leaves the moment Archangel shows up somewhere and refuses to talk about him or his grandfather. One might say that Ryan's attitude towards his father is based on bitterness and longing for acceptance rather than actual anger, while he still evidently admires him to a degree. It is quite certain that Russell, his grandfather, is one of the few people who can actually scare him or enrage him beyond measure. Ryan admits he knows Russell enjoys pushing him over the edge and employs it as psychological torture. Romantic Relationships His most complex relationships regard women; Abaddon is very hard to win over and although sexually promiscuous (he is bisexual) and something of a shameless flirt, his heart remains a closed book. He admits he has manipulated the affection of women in the past, but finds it difficult to truly love. Many women (and certain men) have remarked that he's handsome and desirable and many have attempted to date him. Ryan usually greets these advances with amusement and patience and has often admired and felt attracted to certain people, but hasn't really loved. Interestingly, older, sexually aggressive women make him very uneasy, because of a sexual assault he suffered when he was 14; Deathwish (Gretna Wish) in particular, pursues him frequently and doggedly, to the point where Abaddon prefers to run from her than deal with her. In his recent life, Abaddon has found love in Feral (Ashley Caradyne), who initially rejected his advances after joining the team. They engaged in often and rather vicious sarcastic banter which brought them closer as friends and borderline on mutual flirting. After Abaddon was nearly killed by XTNCS, Feral realized it was pointless to worry about a relationship with a superhero and deny her feelings, and kissed him, initiating their turbulent relationship. Though very fond of each other, openly showing their mutual affection and almost shameless, they often argue and fight (rather angrily) and have grown distant and re-connected several times. The peculiar nature of their relationship makes it a little hard for third parties to understand if what they have is true love or just a bad case of love-hate. 'Allies' Uriel (Gabriel Rivven) Feral (Ashley Caradyne) Samedi's Envoy (Demosthene Savoy) Troll (Troy Svetrowski) The Weatherman (Jibran Haytham) Razorspark (Jin Young) Belladonna (Izzy Marinou) Glitch Dr. Evan Kelly Abby Strandford Nathan Scott Archangel (Michael Rivven) Smoke (Mark Caradyne) Gold Mask The Dante Society 'Powers and Abilities' 'Powers' Mutant Metabolism : His metagene gives Abaddon a form of mutant metabolism, allowing him to control his blood. He can harness carbon from his respiratory system and bind it with the increased iron concentration in his blood, creating a steel-like alloy. *'Blood Manipulation': Abaddon can control his blood both in and out of his body, through any injury that draws blood. The degree of control is seemingly limited only to his imagination and willpower. Even when unconscious, his blood remains active but wildly unpredictable, controlled by the subconscious. Only when completely comatose does his control cease. As he grows older and his powers develop, he will become able to control the blood of others (as long as the structure and chemistry are similar to human blood) first after 'contaminating' it with his own and later still, completely at will. *'Blood Armor: '''Once in contact with air, Abaddon’s blood can harden into a metal with similar properties to high performance steel, though it is lighter and dark colored. It can comfortably endure a lot of damage, such as the blows of superhuman foes without denting or breaking, even surviving a close-range grenade explosion. *'Blood Armor Control: Abaddon can liquefy and re-harden the armor at will, changing it in any way he likes, its appearance usually reflecting his mood. He can retain a minor degree of sensation through the armor, enabling him to use wires and tentacles to feel his way through an environment. He can create virtually anything he thinks of out of his armor, limited only by the amount necessary, or he'll bleed himself to death. Currently he can use up to 3 liters of blood before he starts to feel weak. Later in life he becomes able to steal blood from others and create much more expansive constructs. *'''Blood ‘Eyes’: A branching of his power that he uses rarely, Abaddon can create 'eyes' out of blood that have limited perception; they can only register crude differences in light and dark and detect motion without details. *'Mutant Blood': Ryan's blood has several unique properties. It has an unusually high content of iron and red blood cells, allowing for better transfer of oxygen. Although his ID lists his blood type as O-, Dr. Kelly has discovered that his blood does not actually fall under any specific blood type. Ryan can receive transfusions from and donate to any blood-type without any side-effects. Dr. Kelly has noted that when any blood comes in contact with his, it becomes 'contaminated' for a while and converts to Ryan's null blood type for a short amount of time, until it becomes assimilated to the more abundant type. Additionally, every time he liquefies and re-hardens his armor, the topmost layer of blood is discarded as flaky, dead blood. This dead blood has severely degenerated and does not contain any traceable DNA. Accelerated Blood Regeneration : Due to the amounts of blood that Ryan loses through his power, his body has adapted and regenerates blood about three times as fast as normal. This hectic metabolism explains his voracious appetite and his penchant for sleeping a lot. Limited Mystical Affinity : His power makes him an ideal ‘conduit’ for certain kinds of sorcery reliant on blood. His blood can also be used as a specialized weapon against beings vulnerable to sacred objects, since blessing him carries into his blood. He repeatedly faces down the spectral entity Bargest, who is vulnerable to blood spilled willingly. Abilities Indomitable Will : Abaddon possesses an abnormal force of will, dampened only by his short temper. It kept him alive through his harsh childhood, controls his power and makes up for most of his physical shortcomings. He once willed his blood to keep circulating for about an hour after his heart suffered trauma, following a showdown with Russell, while he went back to finish the fight. Intimidation : Abaddon's ability to instill fear in others is partly related to his profiling skills and his appearance. His ability to adapt his manner to what he knows will have the most impact, along with the sadism that he is known for can even scare non-human beings, like demons, who often question whether he really is human. Interrogation : He is well-versed in interrogation techniques; Abaddon claims he interrogates as a psychologist rather than a law enforcer. His methods are unorthodox and sometimes even bizarre but have an uncanny effectiveness in getting to the truth. His ability to profile others, often tricking them, makes even seasoned villains fall for his verbal maneuvers. When he resorts to torture, his methods, though usually non-lethal, are decidedly disturbing enough to affect even hardened and mentally unstable criminals. Skilled Acrobat : Though he has received little formal training in this discipline, his skills are intuitive, with natural grace. His power allows him to perform superhuman feats of Parkour and he can move along most environments with fluid ease, using wires and tentacles of his armor to swing, dive and dodge, performing gravity-defying antics and hang from anywhere, often hiding in unexpected places. He is one of the few humans who can scale down nearly any vertical surface head-first and even casually run or slide down a vertical surface on his feet. As he once said "Gravity is what you make of it". Even without his power he is far from a slouch. Human Conditioning : Despite the illusion of his ‘average joe’ lifestyle, Ryan’s physical condition is at an excellent shape for his age, build and health-state. Since his childhood he had to adapt to a lifestyle that benefited his heart condition. He followed a semi-strict diet, but because of Erlington’s he wasn’t allowed to attend PE classes or school sports. He also had to deal with abuse from peers and foster parents. He resorted to working out on his own, since his lack of friends left him with little other distraction. To maintain his heart-condition at manageable levels, since he was 12 he has undertaken a quite rigorous daily exercise regime of cardio, weight-lifting, endurance swimming, combat practice and free running. By age 18 his physical capabilities have allowed him to vastly overcome many of the difficulties that his condition causes, such as shortness of breath and frequent fatigue. Still a child of Miami, Ryan does indulge, though not as badly as he allows others to think. His only real vice is smoking (approx. less than a packet per day); Ryan drinks rarely and prudently, has never touched any kind of recreational drug (at some point he pretended to be addicted to painkillers but was actually downing breath mints) and abstains from any kind of artificial physical enhancer except the single vitamin supplement and the medication he takes under prescription for his heart condition. His powers demand a large intake of food which he regulates, ensuring he follows a relatively healthy, high-energy diet, rich in protein and carbohydrates to ensure fast blood regeneration. The only real ‘junk food’ he ever eats is pizza and Cuban pork sandwiches. His massive food intake has ended up being a sort of a joke: his brother often jokes that Ryan has a black hole in his stomach. Many of Abaddon’s feats are directly related to his physical state; he has come to the point where, when his body starts to shut down, his willpower keeps it going and he has taken down opponents of size, strength, skills and powers that greatly exceed his own, such as Dreadnought, a cyborg with superhuman strength and stamina, or Harrison Sylvanis, a superior fighter, despite having his system flooded with anti-coagulants. *'Peak Pain Threshold': He has learned to ignore pain, not only because he frequently must draw his own blood, but Erlington's Syndrome also presents with strong chest pains that come and go. After the incident with the alien XSTNC, the brain trauma he suffered left him with a crippled sensation of pain. He is able to shrug off most gunshot and stab wounds as well as much of the pain from broken bones. This ‘disability’ both makes him harder to take down and makes him overestimate himself. *'Peak Human Strength': Abaddon’s bare physical strength is impressive for his sinewy appearance. Being able to simply carry and move swiftly with his armor is a testament to his strength. He can press and lift about twice his own weight, perhaps more, especially under conditions of adrenaline-rush. He was seen breaking steel cuffs, bending steel pipes, snapping bones and knocking the metahuman Tauro out cold with a single uppercut, showing he not only has strength, he also knows how to apply it. His blood armor enhances his strength (by means of crude hydraulics and pseudo-muscles), allowing him feats such as demolishing a small building by breaking its support pillars, lifting cars, punching holes through walls and supporting almost three tons of concrete, steel and glass debris for nearly ten minutes. It has been hinted that with a bigger blood supply, he could outdo that personal record. *'Peak Human Reflexes': Abaddon’s reflexes are honed from training, his tough life and spending time in gang-riddled Miami suburbia streets and the gator-infested Everglades, where every mistake can be one's last. His reflexes come to the point where he can dodge bullets fired at medium to close range and can anticipate most incoming blows.He's even caught one of Faith's daggers in mid-flight without looking. *'Prodigal Endurance': His heart condition limits his physical endurance to unpredictable levels, overcome only by his sheer will. On that account, his endurance is considered on par with that of a healthy, professional athlete. As an endurance swimmer and frequent surfer, he has great lung capacity, allowing him to hold his breath underwater for approximately three minutes and thirty-five seconds. *'Peak Human Agility': Abaddon’s agility and flexibility are of Olympic medalist levels. Highly efficient and largely self-trained in both Parkour and free running, Abaddon can rapidly navigate any urban or natural environment with acrobatic grace, even without using his powers. Joining his powers and agility enable him to easily scale most vertical surfaces, reach virtually anywhere and perform super-human jumps up to 10 meters in length and 5 in height. *'Peak Human Durability and Recovery': Abaddon has endured normally crippling damage and recovered from injuries such as: being shot several times, suffering prolonged torture, being overdosed with drugs, has survived multiple encounters with Faith and more than once has emerged from being savagely injured by his physically superior grandfather. Both allies and long-term rivals acknowledge the fact that it takes truly a lot of punishment to put him out of action for long. Whether this is a sign of strength or just stubbornness is open to interpretation. It's been theorized that Ryan rather has an abnormally strong survival instinct rather than a superhuman ability to survive. Martial Arts Proficiency : Abaddon is well-versed in unarmed combat, although by his own admission his knowledge of formal fighting styles is limited. Most of what he does is intuitive, reacting rather than thinking about what he does and what he learned by being on the receiving end. His prodigious learning rate has allowed him to quickly grasp the principals of various arts, but he has yet to fully master any single one. His primary style is a paradoxical mix of what he knows of Karate, Boxing, Savate, Tae Kwon Do, Kickboxing and MMA-style with his own personal touches, while he bases his combat on observation and pin-pointing even subtle weaknesses. Even before his rigorous training by Gold Mask, he was capable of holding his own against Harrison Silvanis and his daughter Faith, both admittedly superior unarmed combatants. *'Weapons Proficiency': Although he has little formal training in weaponry, his ability to manifest any melee weapon he can think of and his knack for improvisation has taught him how to make any given weapon deadly, by knowledge of anatomy and practical pathology. He compensates his lack of training with brute force, speed and the sheer number of weapons he can create at any given time, from anywhere. Generally, getting near him in a close-quarters fight could mean losing a limb. He is especially proficient and inventive with blunt weapons like hammers or maces, and has a unique way of combining chains, barbed wires and 'tentacles' in his combat style. *'Stealth Proficiency': Abaddon is good at tailing people, stakeouts and infiltration. His ability to climb any surface, stay hidden in odd places and his mobility makes him hard to track. He has even snuck up on Feral despite her enhanced senses and habitually spooks Samedi's Envoy in a back-and-forth sneaking game between them. *'Marksman Skill': Abaddon has impressive accuracy, even though he almost always prefers close combat. His accuracy in conjunction with his knowledge of anatomy allows him to deliver crippling strikes with throwing weapons, wires and chains even from a distance. He is successful 8/10 times and able to hurl projectiles with great force. Firearms Skill : Although he doesn't use one himself (he dislikes guns), Abaddon is fairly knowledgeable with small to medium caliber firearms and shotguns and has a decent aim. He also knows how to disarm someone pointing a gun at him and can safely disassemble and render useless most commonly-used firearms. Near-Genius Level Intellect (IQ 169) : Quick-witted and far smarter than he lets on, Abaddon is observant, analytical and extremely eloquent when the need arises. Could be defined as a lateral thinker, as his approach to problem-solving and situation or person analysis can sometimes be unorthodox. His attitude is a façade to keep his peers at ease with him and prevent others from estimating his real abilities. This attitude surprised most of his tutors throughout his schooling, as his grades were consistently some of the best even though he was branded a delinquent and trouble child. Rapid Learning Curve : Abaddon possesses a dogged determination and a fast learning curve, particularly in fields that he is very interested in, such as combat or psychological analysis, thanks to a very strong memory and his prominent stubbornness. Ryan is considered a prodigy in fields of criminology, psychology and criminal behavior, and his various mentors have remarked he 'picks up' skills and knowledge remarkably fast, especially under pressure. For instance, he mastered a level of Karate that would normally take several years, within only a few months. Diverse Learner : Besides his majors in Psychology, Criminology and Criminal Behavior, he also studies Forensics, History, Anthropology, Biology and Physics and is well-read in Philosophy, Arts, Mythology, Sociology, Environmental Sciences, Zoology, Botanics and System Databases. He finds a guilty pleasure in Classic Literature and often quotes classics. Over the years he has worked a wide variety of different jobs, ranging from dog-walker to crime-scene cleaner to under chef in a Chinese restaurant and knows a variety of seemingly unconnected trivial skills such as lock-picking, basic engineering and mechanics and culinary knife-skills. Detective : His analytical and deductive thought and common sense make him a skilled detective; Abaddon is quick to notice details and observes the bottom line of problems easily. He has profound or unexpected insight in complex problems. He is able to deduce cause-and-effect situations and human behavior almost casually, picking up on even the slightest hints. Capable of professional forensic research, he still relies a lot more on his intuition and unmatched skill to profile people. Master Profiler/Analyst : Regarded as a prodigy in understanding behavior and its anomalies, Abaddon can profile people with ease—even non-humans. Even the most trivial of observations or mannerisms seem to provide him with material to form accurate profiles of personalities and lives, deducing otherwise unknown secrets and bringing up hidden truths. Getting under the skin of others makes him a skilled interrogator. He may even surpass master detectives like Batman or psychologists like Jonathan Crane Humor me, people. I'm trying to put this into some context that makes sense. in this domain. Tri-lingual : Dabbling with Miami's underworld has given him the advantage of languages. Besides English, Ryan speaks fluent Spanish and enough Russian to have a conversation and translate--though his terrible accent and occasionally erroneous syntax are often remarked. He understands rudimentary French, Latin and Italian. Tactician : Despite being primarily a front-lines combatant, Abaddon is no stranger to cunning tactics and outwitting his opponents, often humiliating them as well. He has shown ability in leadership and field command, and led the Nightwatch for 2 years before stepping down and handing leadership to his brother, Uriel. Skilled Actor and Disguise Artist : Abaddon’s acting skills could very well have landed him a career in theater. He is capable of faking a variety of behaviors, emotions and symptoms of psychological illnesses. He frequently passes as schizophrenic or psychotic, even fooling experienced observers and has even fooled polygraph tests. Ryan is good at disguising himself and altering his unremarkable features to infiltrate the criminal underground or hide in the crowd. He even uses his power to make himself look like something non-human. Some of his aliases include but are not limited to: Eddie Farlowe, Richard Stig, gang alias 'Sharpe' and Ian Griffith. In the underground world of illegal fighting rings, he is known as Mr. Krieg. Driving Skills : Abaddon is an aggressive driver and a master of the art of drifting. He can drive most types of conventional vehicles and trucks. Professional Musician : Ryan is a highly-skilled guitarist and a talented songwriter and singer. He is currently the lead guitarist and singer of a band called Audiobreak. He wrote and composed the music for some of their big hits, like "Go to Hell" and “Unarmed and Unharmed”. He has a very charismatic singing voice and his peers joke that it might be the best among superheroes; it is also said that "Not even Jimmy Hendrix could strike a chord like he does". He plays a customized Fender guitar (black with burgundy and white flame patterns). Limited Comic Awareness : Even the fourth wall is not safe from his sarcasm. Oddly most other characters don’t notice when Ryan adresses readers or even the artists, on account that Ryan often admits he probably isn’t totally sane. Strength Level His blood armor aside, he can lift and press twice times his body weight and has the physical capacities of a young man his age who exercises intensively on a daily basis. Despite his physical shortcomings and inexperience due to his young age, his intelligence, powers and the brutal yet effective way he uses his skills make him one of the most dangerous teenagers on the planet...should he ever come around to getting serious enough for that. 'Weaknesses' Out of his armor, Ryan is vulnerable to all human weaknesses and shortcomings. If he can’t draw his blood, he is totally unarmed. He must also take his heart medication regularly and stay in top physical condition or risk suffering a heart attack. Erlington's Syndrome : An extremely rare, congenital heart malformation syndrome, which essentially makes the heart quite delicate; most patients of this condition die before the ages of 30-40. Common symptoms include frequent shortness of breath and fatigue, strong chest pains, muscle pains, insomnia, blood pressure anomalies and frequent heart arrhythmia. Excessive stress that makes the heart beat too fast and hard can cause it to essentially stop beating (a heart attack) and even cause death if left untreated. Abaddon has trained rigorously over the years to increase his heart's endurance to stress and exercise. The syndrome has also caused his heart to be placed left of its usual position (a secondary symptom of Erlington’s, encountered in only 20% of patients), further affecting his heart's condition. The few villains who have deduced his heart problems have tried to use it to their advantage by wearing him down and even inducing heart attacks to him through medicinal or other means. Excessive Bleeding : As any normal human being, Ryan only has about 5 liters of blood in his system. Despite his accelerated blood regeneration he loses more than he regenerates every time that dead blood is shed and during battles. He can only use up to 3 liters of blood at a time in constructs and armor, which doesn't allow him to make significant full-body armor yet. Before he was able to contaminate the blood of others and steal it, he was limited in the size and thickness of his constructs to the 3 liters of blood he had available. Overstepping his bounds (something he ironically does often) could cause him symptoms of acute blood loss. Crippled Pain Sensation : Although originally Ryan simply had an unnaturally high pain threshold, brain trauma that damaged his pain-reception center has crippled his ability to register and process pain signals properly. Although in his method of fighting this can be an advantage, his failure to comprehend exactly how hurt he is has backfired on him many times. He isn’t always able to feel an oncoming heart-attack or realize when he’s hurt himself too badly to move. Mental Instability : When he is pushed too far in an angry or desperate state, Ryan tends to fall into a kind of berserker state. Ryan’s mentality degenerates into violent reaction rather than rational thinking and acting. He is three times more likely to brutally kill someone and has been known to even injure allies on the worst of attacks. He considers it his weakest flank as Russell derives a disturbing delight in provoking these bouts of rage in him. Interestingly, these brief moments of ‘meltdown’ seem to have an effect on mind-readers as most find it painful to attempt to enter his head. There is also a chance that he has inherited a genetically transmitted mental disorder, such as psychosis or schizoid degeneration, that simply hasn't manifested yet. Anti-coagulant Medication : Ryan's blood needs to be free from anything that could influence blood clotting in order for his power to work properly. Drastic anti-coagulants and toxins that affect clotting can cause incessant bleeding and a massive loss of control over his powers, putting him in danger of exsanguination. Electricity : Besides the fact that his armor makes him attractive to lightning and electrical attacks, the higher iron concentration in his blood makes him more vulnerable to it. Total Body Immersion : If totally immersed in water, Abaddon cannot liquefy his armor, because it would simply dissolve and he'd be unable to re-harden it, bleeding to death. Besides essentially making him a 'hammer' (though ironically he is a very strong swimmer) immersing him in salt-water in particular will also cause him excruciating pain from the salt making the cuts that are the source of his blood hurt. 'Miscellaneous' Ryan's costume is made out of conventional clothes which make it both unremarkable and nigh untraceable—especially since he replaces bits of it ever so often. It may offer little protection but Ryan feels more comfortable in this plain clothing than in a high tech costume. He has often mentioned he detests the term 'costume'. He is quoted saying: "The day I wear something that skin-tight will be the day Hell freezes over!" He makes the hand-print shirts himself at one of his friend's shirt-printing parlor. His costume changes subtly over time and depending on circumstances but always remains dark colored and civilian-like, seamlessly assimilated with the appearance of his armor. His blood armor can assume any shape he can think of, but most usually the texture and appearance of the armor is rough, intimidating and objectively, unsettling to look at. More than once other heroes have regarded his power and its appearance as disgusting, a fact he seems to find entertaining. Because he needs to replenish a lot of blood all the time, Ryan has a rather abysmal appetite and eats in large quantities, even at unreasonable times. His favorite dishes are Cuban pork sandwich and Chinese noodles. Ryan's adolescence was largely lived in the streets of Miami and he briefly dabbled with certain gangs, most notably the Bay Legionnaires; no a gang member per se, he became one of their favorites in one of the underground fighting ring networks, the ‘8-Ring’, where he was pitted against other teenagers with pent up frustrations. Although he has severed his ties with the underground fighting, he still maintains a lot of connections and knows a lot about the Miami underworld. If something is happening in Miami, chances are Ryan already knows about it. 'Paraphernalia' Equipment Ryan does not carry much equipment on him, on account that whatever he needs, he can create out of his armor. He does, however, habitually carry fingerprinting and blood-analysis kits, a communicator earpiece and an iPod. The usefulness of the last item is highly controversial but Ryan insists it helps keep his head cool mid-combat. Out of necessity he carries two epinephrine autoinjectors on him, as well as his heart condition's medication, in case he ever needs to stop a heart-attack from occuring. Transportation A black '69 Camaro with red trims and, a souped-up engine block boosting it to 400hp and modified suspension and braking systems. He bought it in poor condition off someone who rather foolishly sold it at a fraction of its actual value, then upgraded it to death. While working as Abaddon, he relies on his power to swing around to anywhere he needs to be, using wires, tentacles and his Parkour skills. Weapons Anything he can think of, made by his armor. He also habitually uses anything he can get his hands (or tentacles) on. 'Trivia' *He was born on September 13th, a Friday, and is of Irish descent. Gabriel claims "that explains a lot". *Like his brother, he is a carrier of a mutated version of the metahuman gene, known as the 'inhibitor factor' (1 in 1,500,000 rate of appearance) that affects their powers, causing them to fluctuate between unstable and regular. Dr. Kelly theorizes the instability is caused by puberty and will pass, even though paradoxically, severe physical or emotional trauma seems to temporarily stabilize and even alter their powers a bit. *Amphidextrous but mainly left-handed. *He has a male pet Sable ferret that he rescued from an illegal genetics lab, named Plato. *His middle name is in honor of his great-grandfather, Jeremiah “Jerry” O’Sheah, an Irish-American, decorated spy of the Allies during WWII. Several years after the end of the war he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent the rest of his life in an asylum in Boston. Ryan dislikes being called Jeremiah or Jerry. *Despite not being a big retro fan, some of his favorite comic heroes are figures like The Shadow and The Rocketeer, ‘superhero’ figures of the 30s-40s era. 'See Also' Quotations by Abaddon (Ryan J. Gaven) Uriel (Gabriel Rivven) 'Recommended Reading' Ryan Gaven/Abaddon: Beat The Odds Working titles of various story ideas/arcs. Also covers the stories that I have definitive and completed plotlines for. Abaddon & Uriel: Blood Brothers Abaddon: First Blood Abaddon: Santa Muerte Nightwatch: The Long Road Nightwatch: One Path Nightwatch: Sins of Our Fathers Abaddon & Feral: Bloody Valentine Abaddon: Bloodline Abaddon: Nightmare Day Nightwatch: One of Our Own Nightwatch: Monsters Abaddon & Uriel: Bloodletting Nightwatch: Red Nightwatch: Black Abaddon/Batman: The Blood and the Cowl A thought-experiment; a hypothetical story to estimate how the character could work in a DC universe. Can I help it if I want to pay homage to a character that influenced Abaddon to a degree? Abaddon: Code - Knight Black Abaddon: The Trial and Execution of Ryan J. Gaven Nightwatch: Hellraiser Nightwatch: The Price of Pain Nightwatch: Graveyards Abaddon: Mad Dog Nightwatch: Coming of Rage Ryan Gaven/Abaddon: Superstar Ryan Gaven/Abaddon: Amor Vincit Hominis 'Footnotes' Category:Character Category:Nightwatch Category:The Dante Society Category:Talon Corp Agent Category:Male Category:Human/Humanoid